http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/12/us-newscorp-detective-idUSTRE76B1BD20110712 (contributed by Colin)
If News International lied to cops in the ‘investigations’ into hacking crime, where are the arrests and charges of those responsible? Or is this an investigation the Met can’t resource – or would rather not look into because it might remove a convenient excuse for its own failings and expose more about them? Just like the last one …
11,000 bits of paper evidence is not a massive amount. Less than a week with only 2 working on it would be enough to sample it pretty rigorously. In the Morgan case, 750,000 bits of evidence were collected, but presumably not digitised and sorted into levels of disclosure. The case collapses because material cannot be disclosed to the defence. Decent detectives can and do do better than this these days.
I got the impression watching the ‘evidence’ given to some Parliamentary duck-eggs that actually doing detective work is far too difficult, much as a lot of decent coppering. I can’t say I’d have been happy busting my chops over phone hacking either. What we need to know is how much time this enquiry really needed in the first place and we have been given nothing to work on. The duck-eggs needed to get some of the leg-people in and have Ms Akers tell them how she would have done the original work if given to her.
The whole mess looks like it may disintegrate into a series of civil proceedings and pay-offs as in the link above.
The public interest is in a cleaner press empowered to investigate more strongly than before as a ‘fourth estate’, a more sensible legal system and so on. In fact, it looks as though the whole shebang is now caught up in compensation claims, with plenty of time being given to shred and collude on stories in the Met and elsewhere. Plus revenge on the Dirty Digger. Brown now seems to be muddying the waters with a sob story about as genuine as his emotions.
And why does anyone think a judge-led enquiry will help after the farces on Iraq, no inquest on Dr. Kelly or 20 years in clearing two decent pilots flying helicopters known to be wonky?
Allcoppedout's Blog 
The Met senior cops were full of the arrogant ignorance and inability to face up to incompetence in the article you sent me. They seem to fell they can ration justice. Yates did the cash for honours thing which now looks likely to be another cover up.
The ‘Hacked Off’ campaign have the right idea. Crucially, they have the public support of the Dowler family. If this gains some traction we might be in with a chance of understanding the true extent that our democracy and institutions have been corrupted.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/12/hugh-grant-phone-hacking-inquiry
“Grant and the Dowlers have joined a campaign, Hacked Off, formed by the Media Standards Trust, which is pushing for a wider remit for the inquiries, in particular to include politicians. Hacked Off is to publish proposed terms of reference that would give the judge widespread powers to seize evidence and mandate the inquiries to look at the roles of the press, the police, politicians and the relationships between them.
They call for the judge-led inquiry to start prior to the police investigation and for it to establish the nature and extent of contacts between the press and police going beyond the News of the World and the Met.
The inquiry should also establish what contacts took place between politicians and News Corp executives, and whether those were “proper and transparent”. It should examine claims that MPs have been threatened by newspapers for covering the hacking issue and the extent of the hacking of MPs’ phones, as well as the role of the regulators. The inquiry should have the power to offer witnesses immunity to prosecution, they say, and should be public.
The campaign last night claimed to have convinced Miliband and Nick Clegg to back the plans as well as the chair of the culture select committee, John Whittingdale, and the chair of the home affairs committee, Keith Vaz, heaping pressure on the prime minister to widen the remit. Clegg and Miliband met the prime minister last night to discuss the terms of the remit.”
Select committee checklist:
2 hours feigning indignation into mirror.
Include evergreen Masonic references in replies, such as ‘alluding to….’
White gloves and apron in conspicuous masonic case.
Remain receptive to hints of any new or improved offers.
See favourite ‘compo lawyer, again.
You’re back on best form Melvin. They all looked just the sort. I don’t Live in hope on this one Colin.